ADONIRAM  HI  >  SON. 

- o^S^o - 


L 

EARLY  YEARS  AND  CONVERSION. 

At  Malden,  Massachusetts,  one  of  the 
picturesque  suburbs  of  Boston,  there 
stands  an  old  wooden  house  embosomed 
among  the  trees,  which  is  still  pointed 
out  as  the  birth-place  of  Adoniram  Jud- 
son.  His  father,  who  also  bore  the  quaint 
scriptural  name  of  Adoniram,  was  a 
Congregational  minister.  Soon  after  his 
marriage  he  settled  in  Malden,  and  here, 
on  the  9th  of  August,  1788,  his  eldest  son, 
Adoniram,  was  born  and  lived  until  he 
was  four  years  and  a  half  old.  The  family 
then  removed  to  Wenham,  where  they 
remained  until  he  was  twelve  years  old  ; 
after  that  they  removed  again  to  Brain¬ 
tree,  remaining  two  years ;  and  at  last, 
when  Adoniram  was  fourteen  years  old, 
they  took  up  their  abode  permanently  in 
the  old  historic  town  of  Plymouth.  As 
a  child  he  was  very  precocious,  learning 
to  read  when  he  was  only  three  years  of 
age.  His  sister  tells  us  that  at  the  age 
of  four  he  used  to  collect  the  children 
of  the  neighbourhood  round  him,  and, 
mounting  a  chair,  go  through  the  form 
of  a  public  service  in  a  very  earnest 
manner.  The  hymn  which  he  used  al¬ 
ways  to  give  out  on  these  occasions 
begins  with  the  words,  “  Go  preach  my 
Gospel,  saith  the  Lord.”  When  he  went 
to  the  Grammar-school  he  showed  much 
fondness  for  languages,  and  became  spe¬ 
cially  proficient  in  Greek.  His  school¬ 
fellows  gave  him  the  nickname  Virgil, 
or  “Old  Virgil  dug  up.”  His  reading 
was  very  extensive  even  before  he  was 
twelve  years  old.  Hearing  some  conver¬ 
sation  one  day  about  a  new  exposition  of 
the  Book  of  Revelation  that  had  appeared, 
he  felt  that  he  must  have  this  exposition; 
for  he  was  very  fond  of  the  Book  of 
Revelation,  and  had  read  everything  on 


it  contained  in  his  father’s  library.  Over¬ 
coming  the  bashfulness  which  he  felt, 
Adoniram  went  to  a  gentleman  in  the 
neighbourhood  who  had  it,  and  asked  for 
the  loan  of  the  exposition  which  excited 
his  curiosity.  He  was  refused.  His  father, 
to  whom  he  made  known  his  disappoint¬ 
ment,  showed  much  sympathy  with  him. 
“Hot  lend  to  you  !”  he  exclaimed  indig¬ 
nantly  ;  “I  wish  he  understood  it  half  as 
well !  You  shall  have  books,  Adoniram, 
just  as  many  as  you  can  read,  and  I’ll  go 
myself  to  Boston  for  them.”  He  went, 
but  did  not  bring  the  book  on  Revelation. 
It  was  not  deemed  suitable  for  Adoniram. 
His  father  stimulated  his  ambition  to  the 
utmost.  He  seems  early  to  have  formed 
the  hope  that  his  son  would  become  a 
great  man,  and  took  no  pains  to  conceal 
this  expectation ;  so  that  even  in  child¬ 
hood  Adoniram’s  heart  came  to  be  full 
of  worldly  ambition,  which  in  subse¬ 
quent  years  had  to  be  nailed  to  the  cross. 
In  1804,  he  entered  Providence  College, 
afterwards  called  Brown  University,  one 
year  in  advance ;  and  in  1807,  was  gradu¬ 
ated  valedictorian  of  his  class,  at  the  age 
of  nineteen.  During  his  college  course 
he  was  a  hard  student,  very  ambitious 
to  excel,  and  extremely  circumspect  in 
his  behaviour.  In  the  autumn  of  1807, 
young  Judson  opened  a  private  academy 
in  Plymouth,  which  he  taught  for  nearly 
a  year.  During  this  time  he  published 
two  text-books — the  Elements  of  English 
Grammar  and  the  Young  Lady’s  Arith¬ 
metic. 

But  the  most  important  event  of  this 
period  of  his  life  was  bis  conversion. 
From  his  earliest  years  lie  had  breathed 
a  thoroughly  Christian  atmosphere,  but 
during  his  college  course  he  began  to 
cherish  sceptical  views.  At  that  time 
French  infidelity  was  sweeping  over  the 
land  like  a  flood,  and  young  Judson  did 


AD  ONI  RAM  JUDSON. 


3 


not  escape  the  contamination.  Imme¬ 
diately  on  closing  his  school  at  Plymouth, 
and  during  a  tour  through  the  Northern 
States,  a  deep  impression  was  made  upon 
his  mind  by  the  sudden  death  of  an 
intimate  friend  and  classmate  in  college, 
who  like  himself  had  become  imbued 
with  the  scepticism  of  the  day.  This 
incident  occurred  in  a  lonely  country 
inn,  where,  quite  unknown  to  each  other, 
they  happened  to  be  spending  the  night 
in  adjoining  rooms.  The  landlord  had 
apologised  to  Judson  for  putting  him 
into  a  room  next  to  one  occupied  by  a 
sick  young  man,  who  was  likely  to  die. 
Judson  expressed  his  sorrow  for  the 
young  man,  but  said  it  made  no  difference 
to  him.  He  was  haunted,  however,  by 
the  question.  If  he  himself  were  in  a 
similar  position,  was  he  ready  to  die  ? 
Then  he  began  to  think  about  the  state 
of  the  invalid.  Was  he  a  Christian, 
or,  like  himself,  a  Freethinker  ?  Next 
morning,  on  inquiry,  he  heard  that  he 
was  dead.  He  learned,  moreover,  who 
he  was.  The  announcement  completely 
stunned  Judson.  It  put  an  end  to  his 
pleasure  trip,  and  seemed  to  have  changed 
him  at  once  into  an  earnest  searcher 
after  truth.  He  returned  home.  His 
arrival  was  quite  unexpected,  but  very 
welcome.  His  parents  rejoiced  greatly 
when  they  heard  that  he  was  now  an 
anxious  seeker  for  salvation.  While  in 
this  state  several  ministers  met  him  on 
different  occasions,  and  had  conversations 
with  him  in  regard  to  his  spiritual 
condition.  They  invited  him  to  be¬ 
come  a  student  at  a  Theological  College 
with  which  they  were  connected,  be¬ 
lieving  that  he  might  thus  be  helped 
out  of  his  difficulties.  In  this  way 
he  was  led  to  enter  the  Seminary  at 
Andover  one  year  in  advance.  As  he 
was  neither  a  professor  of  religion,  nor 
a  candidate  for  the  ministry,  he  was 
only  admitted  by  special  favour ;  but 
on  the  2nd  of  December,  1808,  he  made 
a  solemn  dedication  of  himself  to  God, 
and  about  five  months  afterwards  became 
a  member  of  the  third  Congregational 
church  in  Plymouth. 


II. 

CONSECRATION  TO  MISSIONARY  LIFE. 

Conversion  involved  in  itself  for  Judson 
a  consecration  of  himself  to  the  minis¬ 
try,  and  at  the  same  time  he  began  to 
ponder  the  subject  of  foreign  missions. 
With  the  last  year  of  his  theological 
course  still  before  him,  there  fell  into  his 
hands  a  sermon,  entitled  “  The  Star  in 
the  East,"  preached  in  one  of  the  parish 
churches  of  Bristol,  England,  by  Dr.  Clau¬ 
dius  Buchanan,  who  had  for  many  years 
been  a  chaplain  to  the  British  East  India 
Company.  The  leading  thought  of  the 
sermon  was  the  evidence  of  the  Divine 
power  of  the  Christian  religion  in  the 
East.  Dr.  Buchanan  described  the  pro¬ 
gress  of  the  Gospel  in  India,  and  espe¬ 
cially  the  labours  of  the  venerable  German 
missionary  Schwartz.  This  sermon  fell 
into  Judsoffis  soul  like  a  spark  into  tin¬ 
der.  Six  months  elapsed  from  the  time 
of  his  reading  Buchanan's  “Star  in  the 
East  "  before  he  made  the  final  resolve  to 
become  a  missionary  to  the  heathen.  It 
was  in  February,  1810,  that  he  and 
several  other  young  men  formally  con¬ 
secrated  themselves  to  this  work. 

In  becoming  a  missionary,  young 
Judson  turned  his  back  upon  the  most 
flattering  prospects  at  home.  He  had 
been  appointed  to  and  declined  a  tutor¬ 
ship  in  Brown  University,  and  Dr.  Griffin 
had  proposed  him  as  his  colleague  in  the 
largest  church  in  Boston.  “And  you 
will  be  so  near  home,"  his  mother  said. 
“No,"  was  his  reply,  “I  shall  never  live 
in  Boston ;  I  have  farther  than  that  to 
go."  The  ambitious  hopes  of  his  father 
were  overthrown,  and  his  mother  and 
sister  mourned  him  with  tears  of  regret. 

Young  Judson  fully  appreciated  the 
dangers  and  hardships  of  missionary  life, 
and  understood  and  accepted  the  priva¬ 
tions  and  sufferings  that  awaited  him. 
There  was  at  this  time  no  Foreign 
Missionary  Society  in  America,  to  which 
he  could  offer  himself,  and  which  would 
ensure  his  support  in  the  foreign  field. 
He  therefore,  together  with  his  missionary 


4 


ADONIRAM  J  UBS  OX. 


associates,  made  known  their  wishes  to 
their  teachers  in  the  Theological  Semi¬ 
nary,  and  to  several  influential  ministers 
in  the  vicinity.  These  wise  and  cautious 
men  advised  the  students  to  submit 
their  case  to  the  General  Association,  a 
body  representing  all  the  Congregational 
churches  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts ; 
which  was  done  accordingly,  on  June 
27tli,  1810.  In  this  way  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
Missions,  a  society  known  and  justly 
revered  at  the  present  day  as  the  mother 
of  American  foreign  missionary  societies, 
was  organized.  It  was  thought  best  by 
this  body  to  send  Mr.  Judson  to  England, 
to  ascertain  whether  in  their  feeble  begin¬ 
ning  they  might  depend  for  aid  and  co¬ 
operation  on  their  brethren  of  the  London 
Missionary  Society.  He  embarked  for 
England,  January  11th,  1811,  on  the  Eng¬ 
lish  ship  Packet.  She  was  captured  on 
the  way  by  a  French  privateer,  and  so 
he  was  subjected  to  imprisonment  and 
compulsory  detention  in  France.  He 
arrived  in  London  on  the  6th  of  May, 
and  was  courteously  received  by  the 
English  directors ;  but  a  joint  conduct  of 
missions  not  seeming  to  them  practicable, 
he  returned  to  America,  and  arrived  in 
New  York  on  the  17th  of  August. 

Soon  after  his  return,  Mr.  Judson  was 
appointed  to  labour  as  a  missionary  in 
Asia,  either  in  the  Burman  empire, — 
which  has  acquired  fresh  interest  in 
the  eyes  of  Englishmen  by  the  recent 
acquisition  which  has  taken  place, — 
Surat,  Prince  of  Wales  Island,  or  else¬ 
where,  as  Providence  should  seem  to 
open  the  most  favourable  door.  But  he 
was  not  to  go  alone,  for  he  was  already 
betrothed  to  Miss  Ann  IJasseltine,  whose 
zeal  in  the  cause  of  missions,  and  whose 
sublime  heroism,  have  made  her  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  women  of  her  age. 
She  was  born  at  Bradford,  Massachusetts, 
December  22nd,  1789,  and  was  about  a 
year  younger  than  Mr.  Judson.  At  the 
age  of  sixteen  she  received  her  first  deep 
religious  impressions.  After  a  struggle 
of  several  months,  she  consecrated  herself 
to  the  Christian  life,  and  threw  herself 


with  all  her  native  ardour  into  its 
labours  and  joys.  Her  decision  to  be¬ 
come  a  foreign  missionary  was  the  more 
remarkable,  that  as  yet  no  woman  had 
ever  left  America  for  that  purpose. 
Public  sentiment  was  against  it.  On 
the  3rd  of  February,  1812,  Mr.  Judson 
took  final  leave  of  his  parents  at  Ply¬ 
mouth  ;  on  the  5th,  he  was  married  to 
Ann  Hasseltine  at  Bradford ;  on  the  6th, 
he  received  ordination  at  Salem ;  and  on 
the  19th,  he  embarked  with  his  young 
wife  on  the  brig  Caravan,  bound  for 
Calcutta. 

III. 

VOYAGE  TO  BURMAH. 

After  the  shores  of  America  had  faded 
from  their  eyes,  almost  four  months 
elapsed  before  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Judson 
caught  sight  of  land.  While  taking 
this  long  voyage  to  India,  they  adopted 
the  views  of  the  Baptists,  and  upon 
their  arrival  formally  joined  that  deno¬ 
mination.  This  step  necessarily  caused 
them  to  be  separated  from  all  their 
missionary  associates,  and  from  the  so¬ 
ciety  that  sent  them  out.  But  this 
separation  was  only  the  beginning  of 
their  troubles.  India  was  ruled  by 
the  East  India  Company,  which  was 
opposed  to  the  introduction  of  mission¬ 
aries,  particularly  of  Americans;  England 
and  America  not  being  at  that  time 
on  friendly  terms.  It  was  feared  the 
natives  would  rise  against  the  whole 
English  race,  and  a  war  ensue,  rendered 
the  more  intense  by  the  spirit  of  religious 
fanaticism.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Judson  were, 
therefore,  peremptorily  ordered  to  re¬ 
turn  to  America.  They  begged  leave  to 
settle  in  some  other  part  of  India,  but 
Avere  refused.  They  then  asked  leave  to 
repair  to  Mauritius.  Permission  Avas 
granted ;  but  no  ship  was  ready  to  sail 
bound  for  that  port,  and  they  Avere 
compelled  to  Avait  tAvo  months.  At  the 
end  of  that  time  they  were  ordered  on 
board  one  of  the  Company's  vessels  bound 
for  England,  but  a  vessel  being  just 
about  to  sail  for  Mauritius,  they  appealed 
to  the  GoA'ernor  for  a  passport.  This 


AD  OMR  AM  JUDSON. 


s 

& 


was  refused.  The  captain,  however, 
good-naturedly  agreed  to  take  them 
without  a  passport,  and  they  embarked 
under  cover  of  the  night.  But  while 
sailing  down  the  Hooghly  river  to  the  sea, 
they  were  overtaken  by  a  Government 
despatch  and  forbidden  to  go  farther. 
They  were  put  ashore  on  the  bank  of  the 
river,  and  took  shelter  in  a  little  tavern. 
After  three  or  four  days,  some  unknown 
benefactor  procured  them  the  much- 
desired  passport  to  sail  on  the  Creole, 
which  they  were  fortunate  enough  to 
overtake  anchored  at  Saugur,  seventy 
miles  below.  After  a  voyage  of  six 
weeks,  they  arrived  at  Port  Louis,  in 
the  Isle  of  Prance,  January  17th,  1813. 

The  Isle  of  Prance,  the  scene  of  St. 
Pierre^s  pathetic  tales  of  Paul  and  Vir¬ 
ginia,  was  to  our  missionaries  also,  who 
took  refuge  here,  a  place  of  sorrow. 
Here  they  learned  of  a  death  which 
rivals  in  pathos  the  fate  of  Virginia. 
Mrs.  Harriet  Newell,  the  first  American 
martyr  to  foreign  missions,  one  of  their 
missionary  associates,  who  had  sailed  in 
the  same  ship  with  them  from  America, 
and  who  had  preceded  them  to  this  place, 
having  barely  survived  the  tempestuous 
voyage  from  Calcutta,  had  just  been  laid 
to  rest  in  the  heathy  ground  of  Mauritius. 
She  was  one  who,  Pfor  the  love  of  Christ 
and  immortal  souls,  left  the  bosom  of  her 
friends  and  found  an  early  grave  in  a 
land  of  strangers.” 

During  the  four  months  which  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Judson  were  obliged  to  spend 
in  the  Isle  of  Prance,  their  time  was 
spent  in  self-sacrificing  labours  among 
the  English  soldiers  that  formed  the 
garrison  of  the  island ;  but  they  longed 
to  reach  their  final  destination,  and  de¬ 
cided  to  make  another  attempt  to  land  on 
the  coast  of  India.  On  the  7th  of  May, 
they  embarked  for  Madras,  intending  to 
establish  a  mission  on  Prince  of  Wales 
Island,  lying  in  the  Straits  of  Malacca. 
On  the  4th  of  June,  they  arrived  at 
Madras,  where  they  were  once  more 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  East  India 
Company.  There  was  no  vessel  in  the 
harbour  bound  for  Prince  of  Wales  Island, 


and  the  only  vessel  about  to  sail  in 
that  direction  was  bound  for  Rangoon, 
Burmah.  Their  arrival  was  promptly 
reported  to  the  Governor-General,  and 
they  feared  they  would  be  immediately 
transported  to  England.  They  dreaded 
to  pass  from  the  protection  of  the  British 
flag  into  the  power  of  the  Burman  despot, 
whose  tender  mercies  were  cruel ;  but 
their  only  alternative  was  between  Ran¬ 
goon  and  their  own  dear  native  land, 
and  they  chose  the  former.  On  June 
22nd,  they  went  on  board  the  crazy  old 
vessel  Georgiana,  and  after  a  stormy 
and  perilous  voyage  they  reached  Ran¬ 
goon.  Mrs.  Judson  was  dangerously  ill, 
and  was  obliged  to  be  carried  on  shore. 

Although  Mr.  Judson’s  change  of  de¬ 
nominational  connection  did  not  meet 
with  universal  approval  at  the  time,  yet 
good  and  wise  men  of  all  religious  bodies, 
viewing  his  conduct  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  present,  are  agreed  that  it  was  over¬ 
ruled  for  good  to  the  Christian  world  at 
large.  It  occasioned  the  formation  of 
another  missionary  society.  When  the 
tidings  reached  America,  the  Baptists 
throughout  the  whole  land  were  aroused 
to  action,  and  immediately  organized 
themselves  into  what  is  now  known  as 
the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union, 
whose  receipts  for  1884  were  about  three 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  Thus  there 
came  to  be  two  great  American  benevolent 
forces  at  work  where  before  there  was 
only  one.  What  a  history-making  epoch 
that  was !  The  action  of  those  conse¬ 
crated  students  at  Andover  led  to  the  for¬ 
mation  of  the  American  Board  of  Com¬ 
missioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  and  of 
the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union; 
the  one  the  organ  of  the  Congregational- 
ists,  the  other  of  the  Baptists,  of  America. 
A  watershed  was  upheaved  from  which 
two  beneficent  and  ever-widening  streams 
flowed  forth  for  the  healing  of  the 
nations. 

IV. 

LIFE  RAE-GOOE". 

In  Rangoon  Mr.  Judson  began  his 
labours  as  a  foreign  missionary,  and  here 


6 


AD  ONI  RAM  JUDSON 


the  next  ten  years  of  his  life  were  spent, 
lie  first  addressed  himself  to  the  task  of 
mastering  the  Burmese  language,without 
grammar,  dictionary,  or  English-speak¬ 
ing  teacher.  How  well  he  succeeded 
has  become  a  matter  of  history.  He 
was  enabled  to  render  important  service 
later  on  both  to  the  Burmans  and  the 
English  during  the  war  of  1824,  between 
Burmah  and  the  English  Government 
in  India.  He  also  made  the  acquisition 
of  this  most  difficult  language  compara¬ 
tively  easy  to  all  such  as  should  follow 
in  his  footsteps.  On  the  13th  of  July, 
just  three  years  to  a  day  after  his  arrival 
in  the  country,  he  completed  a  Grammar 
of  the  Burmese  language.  A  little  later 
he  completed  his  first  tract.  On  the  20th 
of  May,  1817,  he  finished  the  translation 
of  the  Gospel  of  Matthew,  the  first  stage 
in  the  monumental  task  of  translating 
the  whole  Bible.  But  work  of  this  kind 
was  always  secondary  to  what  he  con¬ 
sidered  the  business  of  his  life,  namely, 
to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen. 
There  were  only  two  channels  through 
which  religious  truth  could  ^e  communi¬ 
cated  to  the  mind  of  the  Barman — the 
eyes  and  the  ears.  The  natives  were 
emphatically  a  reading  people,  so  that 
one  way  in  which  Mr.  Judson  communi¬ 
cated  the  Gospel  was  by  the  translation 
of  tracts — either  clear  statements  of 
Christian  truth,  or  portions  of  the  Bible. 
These  were  not  scattered  about  like 
autumn  leaves,  but  given  in  a  discrimi¬ 
nating  manner  to  individuals,  the  gift 
often  being  accompanied  by  a  solemn  in¬ 
junction  to  read,  followed  by  a  fervent 
prayer ;  and  it  is  a  noteworthy  fact,  that 
the  attention  of  the  first  serious  Burman 
inquirer  was  caught  by  two  of  these 
little  writings  that  fell  into  his  hands. 

But  far  more  important  than  trans¬ 
lating  and  distributing  truth  in  a  printed 
form  was  the  oral  preaching  of  the 
Gospel.  Eor  this  Mr.  Judson  had  a  rare 
aptitude,  and  in  it  he  won  his  most 
signal  triumphs.  It  was  unlike  the 
preaching  of  an  orator  about  whom  a 
throng  gathers.  After  the  little  chapel 
or  Zayat  was  built,  public  worship  in¬ 


deed  was  held,  but  most  of  the  teach¬ 
ing  at  first  was  to  the  individual.  A 
single  person  would  enter  into  a  dis¬ 
cussion  with  the  missionary,  while  a  few 
others  would  draw  near  to  witness  the 
encounter.  In  these  hand-to-hand  frays 
Mr.  Judson  often  extorted  exclamations 
of  admiration  from  the  bystanders,  as 
with  his  keen  logic  he  hewed  his  oppo¬ 
nent’s  arguments  to  pieces.  His  preach¬ 
ing  abounded  with  images  and  illustra¬ 
tions.  He  preached  with  great  fervour 
and  earnestness,  and  with  a  touching 
simplicity  in  matter  and  language.  Be¬ 
hind  his  words  lay  the  magnet  of  a  great 
character.  There  was  no  mistaking  his 
motives. 

On  April  4th,  1819,  when  Mr.  Judson 
was  thirty-one  years  old,  and  had  been  in 
Burmah  nearly  six  years,  the  first  public 
service  was  held,  and  he  ventured  to 
preach  to  a  Burman  audience  in  their  own 
language  ;  and  on  the  27th  of  J une,  seven 
years  after  leaving  America,  he  baptized 
the  first  Burman  convert,  Moung  Nau, 
who  was  soon  followed  by  many  more.  , 

At  this  interesting  period,  when  num¬ 
bers  were  inquiring  into  the  new  re¬ 
ligion,  the  black  clouds  of  persecution 
gathered  over  the  heads  of  the  new 
converts  and  their  Christian  teachers. 
The  Viceroy  of  Rangoon  regarded  with 
an  unfavourable  eye  the  attempt  to 
introduce  a  new  religion,  and  Mr. 
Judson  resolved  to  go  directly  to  Ava, 
the  capital  of  Burmah,  and  lay  the 
matter  at  the  feet  of  the  Emperor.  If  he 
could  gain  permission  from  the  Burman 
monarch  to  propagate  the  Christian  reli¬ 
gion,  he  would  be  at  once  exempt  from 
the  persecution  of  provincial  underlings. 
If  he  should  fail,  matters  could  be  no 
worse,  for  news  of  the  new  movement 
must  soon  reach  the  ears  of  the  King 
in  any  case.  Mr.  Judson  returned  from 
Ava  utterly  disheartened,  having  reaped 
only  complete  failure.  He  therefore  de¬ 
cided  to  remove  the  mission  to  Chitta¬ 
gong,  in  order  to  be  under  the  protection 
of  the  English  Government ;  but  the 
heroism  of  the  disciples  prevailed  to  keep 
him  in  Rangoon,  where  he  continued  his 


AD  OMR  AM  JUDSON, . 


7 


labours  for  three  years  more  in  tolerable 
freedom.  In  1822,  Mr.  Judson  made  a 
second  journey  to  Ava,  and  this  time 
found  the  King  much  more  favourably 
disposed  toward  him ;  even  inviting  him 
to  come  and  establish  himself  in  Ava. 
The  little  church  in  Rangoon  had  grown 
to  eighteen  members,  the  Zayat  had  been 
built,  schools  established,  a  printing- 
press  sent  them  from  America,  and  two 
missionaries  were  on  the  ground  with 
their  wives  to  care  for  the  infant  church. 
There  seemed  no  reason  why  he  should 
not  move  into  ‘‘the  regions  beyond,”  as 
he  always  longed  to  do.  So,  on  the  13th 
of  December,  1823,  he  set  out  for  Ava, 
where  he  arrived  January  23rd,  1824. 
This  marks  an  epoch  in  Mr.  Judson’s 
life.  His  active,  ardent  temperament  was 
to  be  subjected  to  the  crucible  of  passive 
endurance,  and  we  now  pass  from  the 
record  of  his  activities  to  the  story  of 
his  sufferings. 

Y 

LIFE  IN  AVA  AND  OUNG-PEN-LA. 

When  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Judson  left  Ran¬ 
goon  to  establish  a  mission  in  Ava,  the 
outlook  was  encouraging.  They  had 
been  invited  by  the  King  to  live  in  the 
capital  city,  and  had  received  from  him 
a  plot  of  ground  on  which  to  build  a 
mission-house.  They  felt  sure  of  royal 
protection,  and  many  persons  in  high 
rank  seemed  kindly  disposed  to  the  new 
religion.  Mr.  Judson  preached  in  Bur¬ 
mese  every  Sunday,  and  held  worship 
every  evening,  and  Mrs.  Judson  soon 
had  a  school  of  native  girls.  A  dark 
cloud  of  persecution,  however,  quickly 
gathered  on  the  horizon.  War  broke 
out  between  Burmah  and  the  English 
Government  in  India,  and  suspicion  fell 
at  once  on  all  the  white  foreigners  re¬ 
siding  in  Ava.  It  was  thought  that  they 
were  in  collusion  with  the  English. 

Mr.  Judson  was  seized  on  the  8th  of 
June,  1824,  and  for  twenty-one  months 
endured  the  prolonged  horrors  of  con¬ 
finement  in  a  loathsome  Oriental  prison. 
For  nine  months  he  was  confined  in 
three  pairs  of  fetters,  for  two  months 


in  five,  for  six  months  in  one;  for  two 
months  he  was  a  prisoner  at  large  ;  and 
for  two  months,  although  released  from 
prison,  he  was  restrained  in  Ava  under  the 
charge  of  the  governor  of  the  north  gate 
of  the  palace.  The  prison  was  a  building 
about  forty  feet  long  and  thirty  wide, 
and  about  five  feet  high.  There  was  no 
ventilation  except  through  the  chinks 
in  the  boards,  and  upon  the  thin  roof 
poured  down  the  rays  of  a  tropical  sun. 
In  this  room  were  confined  one  hundred 
persons  of  both  sexes  and  all  nationalities, 
nearly  all  naked  and  half  famished. 
The  prison  was  never  washed  or  even 
swept.  Putrid  remains  of  animal  and 
vegetable  matter,  together  with  other 
nameless  abominations,  strewed  the  floor. 
In  this  place  of  torment  Mr.  Judson  lay, 
with  five  pairs  of  fetters  on  his  legs 
and  ankles,  weighing  about  fourteen 
pounds,  the  marks  of  which  he  carried 
to  his  dying  day.  At  nightfall,  lest  the 
prisoners  should  escape,  a  bamboo  pole 
was  placed  between  their  legs,  and  then 
drawn  up  by  means  of  pulleys  to  a  height 
which  allowed  their  shoulders  to  rest  on 
the  ground,  while  their  feet  depended 
from  the  iron  rings  of  the  fetters. 

When  Mr.  Judson  was  subjected  to 
these  indignities  and  tortures  he  was  in 
the  prime  of  life,  thirty-six  years  old ; 
but  he  was  a  student,  unused  to  suffering 
hardship.  His  naturally  vigorous  con¬ 
stitution  had  been  enfeebled  by  ten  years 
of  close  application  to  study  in  a  tropical 
climate,  and  of  late  years  completely 
shattered  by  repeated  attacks  of  Indian 
fever.  This,  however,  only  represents 
the  physical  side  of  his  distresses.  Who 
can  measure  the  torture  of  twenty-one 
months  of  enforced  idleness  to  an  active 
methodical  nature  ;  or  the  horrors  of 
close  association  with  the  basest  crimi¬ 
nals  of  the  Burman  capital — obliged  to 
endure  their  filth,  to  look  upon  their 
repulsive  features,  his  reluctant  ears  filled 
with  their  vulgar  and  blasphemous  jests, 
compelled  to  look  on  while  they  were 
tortured  with  cord  and  mallet,  and  forced 
to  listen  to  the  writhing  victims’  shrieks 
of  anguish  ? 


8 


ADONIRAM  JUDSON. 


He  was  a  man  of  the  strongest  and 
tenderest  affections.  What  keen  mental 
anguish  must  he  have  endured  as  he 
thought  of  his  beloved  wife  threading 
alone  the  hot  and  crowded  streets, 
without  friend  or  protector,  liable  at  any 
moment  to  be  seized  and  thrown  into 
prison ;  hourly  exposed  to  the  insults  of 
rude  Burman  officials,  while,  with  in¬ 
trepid  courage,  day  after  day  she  brought 
food  to  the  prison ;  assuaged  the  wretch¬ 
edness  of  the  prisoners  by  bribing  their 
inhuman  keepers;  pleaded  for  the  re¬ 
lease  of  her  husband  with  one  Burman 
official  after  another,  and  with  such 
pathetic  eloquence,  that  on  one  occasion 
she  melted  to  tears  the  old  governor  of 
the  prison  ;  giving  birth  to  her  babe,  and 
after  a  confinement  of  only  twenty-one 
days,  carrying  it  all  the  way  in  her  arms 
to  that  4 ‘never-to-be-forgotten  place,” 
Oung-pen-la ;  nursing  it  and  the  little 
native  girls  under  her  charge  through 
small-pox;  and  at  last,  broken  down 
herself,  and  brought  to  death’s  door  by 
the  same  loathsome  disease,  followed  by 
the  dread  spotted  fever,  obtaining  per¬ 
mission  after  many  entreaties  for  her 
husband  to  crawl  about  the  town  in  his 
iron  fetters,  in  charge  of  a  gaoler,  with 
the  little  wailing  creature  in  his  arms, 
begging  nourishment  for  it  from  some 
Burman  mother ! 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  Mr. 
Judson  in  the  midst  of  these  horrors 
took  refuge  in  the  quietism  of  Madame 
Guyon.  His  sublime  faith  in  God  never 
faltered,  though  the  Burman  Bible  re¬ 
mained  unfinished,  and  the  work  of  ten 
years  in  Rangoon  was  going  to  pieces  in 
his  absence.  He  employed  his  calmer 
moments  in  composing  some  exquisite 
poems  and  hymns,  and  a  metrical  render¬ 
ing  of  the  Lord’s  Prayer.  At  last  he  was 
released  from  his  irons,  and  compelled  to 
act  as  translator  and  interpreter  for  the 
Burmans  in  treating  for  peace  with  the 
English.  From  the  beginning  of  his 
residence  in  the  country,  he  had  care¬ 
fully  avoided  taking  any  part  in  political 
affairs,  for  he  did  not  wish  to  endanger 
his  influence  as  a  religious  teacher  by 


letting  the  Burmans  receive  the  impres¬ 
sion  that  he  was  in  the  interests  of  the 
English.  But  now  he  had  no  choice. 
He  was  probably  selected  because  no 
one  could  be  better  trusted,  and  because 
of  his  remarkable  knowledge  of  the  lan¬ 
guage.  He  was  taken  from  Oung-pen-la, 
where  the  prisoners  had  been  removed  six 
months  previously,  and  sent  to  Maloun, 
where  he  remained  six  weeks  on  the 
Government  business,  when,  in  conse¬ 
quence  of  the  advance  of  the  English 
from  Prome,  he  was  hurried  back  to  Ava, 
and  again  thrown  into  prison.  He  was 
soon  released,  however,  at  the  demand  of 
General  Sir  Archibald  Campbell,  who 
took  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Judson  and  their 
infant  daughter  immediately  to  his  own 
quarters,  and  treated  them  with  the  kind¬ 
ness  of  a  father  rather  than  as  strangers 
of  another  country. 

VI. 

LIFE  IN  AMHERST. 

The  treaty  of  peace  Avas  signed  by  the 
British  and  Burman  commissioners  on 
the  24th  of  February,  1826.  On  the 
6th  of  the  following  month,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Judson  left  the  headquarters  of  the 
English  army  encamped  at  Yan-ta-bo. 
They  sailed  down  the  Irrawaddy  in  a 
British  gunboat,  and  arrived  at  Ran¬ 
goon,  March  21st,  1826.  Having  at  last 
emerged  from  his  long  term  of  Oriental 
imprisonment,  Mr.  Judson  turned  to 
his  life-work  with  undiminished  ardour. 
The  English  desired  to  retain  his  valu¬ 
able  services  as  interpreter,  and  offered 
him  a  salary  of  three  thousand  dollars  ; 
but  he  declined. 

When  he  arrived  in  Rangoon,  he  found 
his  little  mission,  the  result  of  ten  years 
of  labour,  completely  broken  up.  The 
Avar  had  driven  the  missionary  associates 
Avhom  he  had  left  in  charge  to  Calcutta, 
Avhither  they  had  narrowly  escaped  Avith 
their  lives.  He  had  left  a  native  church 
of  eighteen  disciples,  and  he  found  on 
his  return  only  four.  With  the  excep¬ 
tion  of  two,  however,  none  had  disgraced 
their  holy  profession.  It  was  out  of 


9 


ADONIRAM  JUDSON. 


the  question  to  think  of  remaining  at 
Rangoon.  The  English  were  only  hold¬ 
ing  the  place  temporarily,  until  the  Bur- 
mans  should  pay  their  war  debt ;  and 
at  the  close  of  the  year  the  army  vacated 
it,  and  Burmah  resumed  the  possession  of 
its  chief  sea-port.  A  state  of  anarchy 
followed  the  war,  famine  succeeded,  and 
tigers  and  other  beasts  of  prey  began  to 
infest  the  suburbs  and  carry  off  cattle  and 
human  beings.  All  these  circumstances 
impelled  the  missionaries  to  leave  Ran¬ 
goon.  It  was  no  longer  necessary  to 
remain  there  in  order  to  reach  the  native 
Burmans. 

One  of  the  results  of  the  war  was 
that  the  English  had  wrested  from  them 
a  large  part  of  their  sea-coast.  This 
country  was  peopled  with  Burmans,  and 
the  cruelty  of  the  despot  at  Ava  was  sure 
to  cause  a  large  overflow  of  the  popu¬ 
lation  of  Burmah  proper  into  it.  Here 
the  J udsons  might  teach  the  new  religion 
unmolested,  under  the  protection  of  the 
British  flag.  Just  at  this  time  Mr.  Jud- 
son  was  invited  by  Mr.  Crawford,  the 
British  Civil  Commissioner  of  the  new 
province,  to  accompany  him  on  an  ex¬ 
ploring  expedition,  the  purpose  being  to 
ascertain  the  best  situation  for  a  town 
which  should  be  the  capital  of  the  new 
territory,  the  seat  of  government,  and 
the  headquarters  of  the  army.  Mr.  Jud- 
soiTs  knowledge  of  the  language  made 
him  an  invaluable  assistant  in  such  an 
enterprise,  and  finally  he  and  Mr.  Craw¬ 
ford  selected  as  the  site  of  the  new  city 
the  promontory  where  the  waters  of  the 
Salwen  empty  themselves  into  the  sea. 
The  town  was  named  Amherst,  in  honour 
of  the  Governor-General  of  India,  and  to 
this  spot  Mr.  Judson  decided  to  trans¬ 
plant  the  Rangoon  mission,  with  the  four 
faithful  disciples  as  the  nucleus  of  a 
native  church. 

They  removed  to  Amherst  July  2nd, 
1826.  But  before  missionary  operations 
were  fairly  begun,  Mr.  Judson  was  com¬ 
pelled  reluctantly  to  visit  Ava,  the  scene 
of  his  imprisonment.  The  Governor  de¬ 
sired  to  negotiate  a  commercial  treaty 
with  the  Burman  King,  and  Mr.  J udson 


was  appointed  a  member  of  the  embassy. 
His  profound  knowledge  of  the  Burman 
language  and  character  well  qualified 
him  for  the  delicate  and  difficult  task 
of  treating  with  the  Court  at  Ava.  At 
first  he  firmly  declined ;  but  when  hn 
was  assured  that  if  he  would  go  as  an 
English  ambassador  every  effort  would 
be.  made  to  ensure  the  insertion  of  a 
clause  in  the  treaty  granting  religious- 
liberty  to  the  Burmans,  so  that  the  whole 
country  should  be  thrown  open  to  the 
Gospel,  he  reluctantly  consented. 

The  stubborn  intolerance  of  the  native 
Government  had  hitherto  been  the  chief 
obstacle  to  his  missionary  work,  and  re¬ 
ligious  freedom  for  the  Burmans  was  a- 
blessing  for  which  he  had  long  laboured 
and  striven  in  vain.  The  step  proved 
to  be  a  most  unfortunate  one,  for  he  soon 
learned  that  the  King  would  on  no  terms 
agree  to  the  clause  in  the  treaty  granting 
his  subjects  freedom  of  worship.  He* 
was  obliged  to  remain  about  two  months- 
and  a  half  in  Ava,  and  this  period  em¬ 
braces  one  of  the  saddest  episodes  in  his 
life.  On  the  4th  of  November,  a  sealed 
letter  was  placed  in  his  hands  containing 
the  intelligence  of  the  death  of  Mrs. 
Judson.  While  conducting  the  affairs 
of  the  mission  in  her  husband’s  absence, 
she  was  smitten  with  fever,  and  died  on 
October  24th,  1826,  at  the  age  of  thirty- 
seven,  apart  from  him  to  whom  she  had 
given  her  heart  in  her  girlhood,  whose* 
footsteps  she  had  faithfully  followed  for 
fourteen  years,  over  land  and  sea,  through 
trackless  jungles  and  strange  crowded 
cities.  She  had  shared  his  studies  and 
his  privations,  illumining  his  hours  of 
gloom  with  her  bright  presence ;  and  with 
a  heroism  and  fidelity  never  exceeded 
in  the  history  of  missions,  had  saved  his; 
life  and  soothed  his  sufferings  during  liis; 
long  imprisonment.  He  whom  she  thus; 
loved,  and  whose  knowledge  of  Indian 
fever  might  have  availed  to  avert  the- 
fatal  stroke,  was  far  away  in  Ava.  No» 
missionary  was  with  her  when  she  died, 
to  speak  words  of  Christian  consolation, 
and  the  hands  of  strangers  smoothed  lieu 
dying  pillow. 


ao 


ADONIRAM  JUDSON. 


Mr.  Judson  returned  to  Amherst  Janu¬ 
ary  24th,  1827.  The  native  Christians 
greeted  him  with  the  voice  of  lamenta¬ 
tion,  and  his  hearth  was  desolate.  But 
though  worn  out  with  sufferings  and 
sorrows,  he  did  not  remit  for  one  moment 
his  missionary  labours.  He  met  the 
Burmans  for  public  worship  on  Sundays, 
and  each  day  at  prayers  new  inquirers 
•stole  in  and  were  taught  the  religion  of 
Christ.  He  was  also  busily  employed  in 
revising  his  translation  of  the  New  Testa¬ 
ment,  and  completed  two  Catechisms  for 
the  use  of  the  Burman  schools,  the  one 
astronomical,  the  other  geographical ; 
while  his  sorrowful  heart  sought  com¬ 
fort  in  commencing  a  translation  of  the 
Psalms.  His  motherless  child  was  the 
solace  of  his  studies ;  but  she  too  was 
taken  from  him  on  April  24th,  1827,  at 
the  age  of  two  years.  Thus,  at  the  age 
of  thirty-nine,  he  found  himself  alone  in 
the  world,  bereft  of  wife  and  child. 

The  time  had  now  come  when  the 
little  mission  at  Amherst  thus  established 
with  such  mournful  omens  was  to  be 
broken  up.  Amherst  was  rapidly  being 
oclipsed  by  the  town  of  Maulmain,  situ¬ 
ated  on  the  coast  about  twenty-five 
miles  farther  north,  at  the  very  mouth 
of  the  Salwen.  Within  a  year  of  its 
first  settlement,  while  the  population  of 
Amherst  amounted  to  twelve  hundred, 
the  population  of  Maulmain  had  rapidly 
•swelled  to  twenty  thousand.  The  reason 
for  this  growth  was  an  unfortunate  mis¬ 
understanding  between  the  Civil  Com¬ 
missioner,  Mr.  Crawford,  and  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief,  SirArchibald  Campbell. 
The  latter  made  Maulmain  the  head¬ 
quarters  of  his  army,  which  naturally 
attracted  emigration  thither,  and  it  soon 
became  apparent  that  this  town  instead 
of  Amherst  was  to  be  the  metropolis 
of  the  ceded  provinces  of  Tenasserim. 
Accordingly,  it  seemed  best  to  transfer 
the  mission  to  Maulmain,  the  site  for  a 
mission-house  and  Zayat  having  been 
•presented  by  Sir  Archibald  Campbell. 
Must  before  leaving  Amherst,  with  its 
treasure  of  precious  dust  gathered  under 
the  hope-tree,  and  within  three  months 


of  the  burial  of  his  child,  Mr.  Judson 
learned  of  the  death  of  his  venerable 
father. 

VII. 

LIFE  IN  MAULMAIN. 

There  are  traces  that  at  this  time  Mr. 
Judson  was  inclined  to  embrace  the  mys¬ 
tical  tenets  of  Thomas  a  Kempis,  F enelon, 
and  Madame  Guyon  ;  and  that  under  the 
stress  of  grief  and  physical  enfeeblement, 
he  approached  the  perilous  verge  of 
fanaticism.  He,  however,  soon  recovered 
his  mental  and  spiritual  equilibrium, 
and  in  the  busy  whirl  of  missionary 
activity,  threw  off  whatever  excesses  of 
self-denial  may  temporarily  have  charac¬ 
terized  his  views  and  practices.  Having 
brought  with  him  from  Amherst  the 
whole  little  flock  of  native  converts 
and  inquirers,  together  with  nineteen 
scholars,  we  find  Mr.  Judson  taking  up 
his  abode  in  the  new  mission-house  in 
Maulmain.  Work  was  at  once  begun  in 
four  widely  separated  centres  of  Gospel 
influence,  where  public  worship  was  held, 
followed  by  close  personal  conversation 
with  any  who  desired  to  become  ac¬ 
quainted  with  the  new  religion.  He 
soon  bad  the  happiness  of  baptizing  his 
first  convert ;  and  many  others  speedily 
followed,  yielding  little  by  little  to  his 
solemn  and  gentle  persuasion.  School 
work  progressed,  and  was  not  less  effect¬ 
ive.  But  amid  the  cares  and  toils  of 
beginning  a  missionary  enterprise  in 
Maulmain,  Mr.  Judson  did  not  remit  his 
literary  labours.  The  odd  moments  of 
time  left  from  preaching  and  school  work 
were  occupied  in  translating ;  and  it 
was  at  this  time  that  he  began  the  task 
of  translating  the  Old  Testament  into 
Burmese. 

While  thus  engaged,  he  was  not  un¬ 
mindful  of  the  smouldering  camp-fire 
at  Rangoon  and  Amherst.  At  Rangoon 
especially,  where  he  had  first  unfurled 
the  banner  of  Christ,  and  whence  he  had 
been  so  rudely  driven  by  the  intolerant 
spirit  of  the  King  of  Ava,  he  reorganized 
a  native  church  under  a  Burman  pastor, 
who  was  one  of  the  original  converts. 


AD  ON  III  AM  JUDSON. 


11 


This  has  since  grown  so.,  that  in  1881  the 
Rangoon  mission  embraced  89  churches 
and  3,700  members.  At  Amherst,  also, 
Mr.  Judson  established  a  native  church 
under  a  native  pastor. 

In  1830,  he  made  another  attempt  to 
-establish  the  Christian  religion  in  Burmah 
proper.  Leaving  Maulmain  in  charge 
of  other  missionaries,  he  went  to  Prome, 
where  thousands  heard  the  Gospel  from 
his  lips.  But  the  King  gave  orders  that 
he  should  be  required  to  depart,  and  he 
was  forced,  sadly  and  reluctantly,  to 
abandon  the  project  of  entering  Central 
Burmah.  He  did  not  at  once  withdraw, 
but  remained  for  almost  a  year  at  Ran¬ 
goon,  situated  just  within  the  gate  of  the 
empire.  He  retreated  only  step  by  step 
before  intolerance,  disputing  every  inch 
of  the  ground,  and  using  the  printed 
page  as  an  engine  for  disseminating  the 
truth,  when  preaching  by  the  living 
voice  was  impossible.  About  this  time, 
the  Mission  Board  in  America  sent  Mr. 
Judson  an  urgent  and  affectionate  invi¬ 
tation  to  revisit  his  native  land.  He 
was  forty-two  years  old,  and  had  been 
absent  from  America  eighteen  years ;  his 
health  was  shattered,  his  family  he  had 
laid  in  the  grave  ;  but  he  replied  that  he 
did  not  feel  justified  in  accepting  their 
kind  invitation,  and  remained  at  his  post. 
He  who  dealt  so  sternly  with  himself, 
however,  cared  with  almost  a  woman’s 
tenderness  for  the  health  and  comfort  of 
his  missionary  associates. 

After  an  absence  of  thirteen  months 
in  Rangoon  and  Prome,  Mr.  Judson  re¬ 
turned  to  Maulmain,  to  find  the  church  en¬ 
larged  by  the  addition  of  many  Burmans, 
Karens,  and  Talings.  Two  millions  of 
pages  of  tracts  and  translations  of  Scrip¬ 
ture  had  been  printed,  and  a  church  of 
fourteen  members  established  in  the 
neighbouring  jungle.  Soon  after  his 
return,  he  entered  upon  a  new  field  of 
operations,  by  making  tours  among  the 
wild  Karen  tribes  inhabiting  the  jungle 
behind  Maulmain ;  a  people  whom  he 
found  peculiarly  accessible  to  the  Chris¬ 
tian  religion.  These  tours  were  attended 
by  great  fatigue  and  danger.  He  took 


with  him  a  band  of  missionary  associates 
and  native  workers,  whom  he  dispatched 
two  and  two,  to  the  right  and  left,  up  the 
tributaries  of  the  Salwen,  to  penetrate 
the  jungle,  and  meeting  their  teacher  a 
few  days  later,  report  to  him  the  result 
of  their  labours. 

After  eight  years  of  domestic  solitude, 
Mr.  Judson  was  married,  on  the  10th  of 
April,  1834,  to  Mrs.  Sarah  Hall  Board- 
man,  widow  of  the  sainted  George  Dana 
Boardman,  one  of  his  missionary  associ¬ 
ates.  He  found  in  her  a  kindred  spirit. 
She  had  spent  the  three  years  of  her  wid¬ 
owhood  in  heroic  toil  among  the  Karens  at 
Tavoy,  continuing  her  husband’s  labours 
after  his  death.  She  was  the  guiding 
spirit  of  the  mission.  She  pointed  out 
the  way  of  life  to  the  Karen  inquirers 
who  came  in  from  the  wilderness  ;  she 
even  made  long  tours  in  the  jungle. 
With  her  child  carried  by  her  followers 
at  her  side,  she  climbed  the  mountain, 
traversed  the  marsh,  forded  the  stream, 
and  threaded  the  forest.  She  conducted 
her  schools  with  such  ability,  that  when 
an  appropriation  was  made  by  the  English 
Government  for  schools  throughout  the 
Provinces,  it  was  especially  stipulated 
that  they  should  be  conducted  on  the 
plan  of  Mrs.  Boardman ’s  schools  at  Tavoy. 

On  the  31st  of  January,  1834,  Mr.  Jud¬ 
son  completed  the  Burman  Bible.  Seven 
years  more  were  spent  in  revising  the 
first  work,  and  on  the  24th  of  October, 
1840,  the  last  sheets  of  the  revised  edi¬ 
tion  were  sent  to  the  press.  Competent 
judges  pronounce  Mr.  Judson’s  transla¬ 
tions  of  the  Scripture  the  most  perfect 
work  of  its  kind  that  has  ever  appeared 
in  India.  Twenty-one  years  were  spent 
in  translation,  and  seven  in  revision.  It 
is  perfect  as  a  literary  work  ;  and  will 
probably  three  centuries  hence  be  the 
Bible  of  the  Christian  churches  of  Bur¬ 
mah,  as  Luther’s  Bible  is  now  in  the 
hands  of  Protestant  Germany. 

Upon  the  completion  of  the  fiftieth 
year  of  his  life  and  his  twenty-fifth  in 
Burmah,  his  health  gave  way.  Disease 
fastened  upon  his  lungs,  entailing  loss 
of  voice  and  intense  pain,  and  he  was 


12 


AD  ONI  RAM  JUDSON 


compelled  to  take  a  sea-voyage  to  Cal¬ 
cutta.  After  an  absence  of  two  months, 
he  returned  somewhat  improved ;  but 
Mrs.  Judson’s  health  also  began  to  fail, 
and  she  was  attacked  by  the  disease 
which  proved  fatal  to  her  in  the  end. 
Their  children  also  being  sick,  it  became 
necessary  to  take  another  voyage  to 
Calcutta.  One  of  the  children  died 
there,  and  then  they  proceeded  to  the 
Isle  of  France,  and  returned  to  Maulmain 
benefited. 

VIII. 

VISIT  TO  AMERICA. 

While  working  at  his  gigantic  task 
of  compiling  a  Burman  Dictionary,  un¬ 
dertaken  at  the  request  of  the  Board 
of  Missions  in  America,  Mr.  Judson 
was  obliged  to  embark  on  a  voyage 
to  America,  in  order  to  preserve  Mrs. 
Judsom’s  life.  She  had  taken  several 
short  journeys  along  the  coast,  without 
deriving  any  permanent  benefit,  and  her 
case  had  now  become  so  desperate,  that 
she  was  unable  to  attempt  the  long 
journey  to  America  alone.  Her  life  was 
of  immense  value,  not  only  to  her  hus¬ 
band  and  her  little  family  of  six  help¬ 
less  children,  but  also  to  the  mission ; 
as,  next  to  Mr.  Judson  himself,  she  spoke 
and  wrote  the  Burman  language  more 
perfectly  than  any  white  foreigner  then 
living ;  while  her  marked  ability  and 
earnest  missionary  spirit  would  render 
her  loss  one  impossible  to  repair.  On 
the  26th  of  April,  1845,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Judson,  with  their  three  elder  children, 
embarked  on  the  ship  Paragon  for  Lon¬ 
don,  leaving  their  three  younger  children 
behind,  in  the  charge  of  the  missionaries. 
The  vessel  sprang  a  leak,  and  the  captain 
was  obliged  to  put  in  at  the  Isle  of 
France. 

Mrs.  Judson  had  so  far  improved  that 
the  missionaries  formed  the  purpose  of 
separating,  she  to  continue  the  voyage 
alone,  and  he  to  return  to  his  work  in 
Maulmain.  But  she  soon  experienced  a 
severe  relapse,  and  it  became  impossible 
to  leave  her.  After  remaining  three 
weeks  at  Port  Louis,  they  embarked  on  a 


ship  bound  directly  for  the  United  States. 
Again  she  rallied,  and  again  experienced 
a  dreadful  relapse,  which  terminated  in 
her  death  on  ship-board  off  the  port  of  St. 
Helena,  on  the  1st  of  September,  1845. 
Having  prepared  her  for  burial  with 
his  own  hands,  her  body  was  carried 
ashore  the  same  afternoon  and  deposited 
in  the  public  burial-ground  at  St.  Helena, 
and  at  evening,  this  lone  rock  of  the 
ocean,  which  contained  all  that  was  mor¬ 
tal  of  the  mother  of  his  children,  faded 
out  of  his  sight  for  ever. 

Mr.  Judson,  with  his  three  children, 
reached  Boston  on  the  15th  of  October, 
1845.  He  was  ill  prepared  for  the 
enthusiastic  greeting  that  awaited  him 
in  America.  Every  home  was  thrown 
open  to  him,  and  soon  his  progress  from 
city  to  city  almost  assumed  the  propor¬ 
tions  of  a  triumphal  march.  His  move¬ 
ments  were  chronicled  alike  by  secular 
and  religious  newspapers.  He  was  in 
exceedingly  delicate  health,  his  pulmo¬ 
nary  complaint  prevented  his  speaking 
above  a  whisper,  and  he  could  only  ad¬ 
dress  an  audience  at  second  hand,  whis¬ 
pering  his  words  to  a  speaker  at  his  side, 
who  conveyed  them  to  the  ears  of  the 
hearers.  He  had  so  long  used  a  foreign 
tongue,  that  it  was  difficult  for  him  to 
form  sentences  in  English.  Naturally 
shy  and  humble,  he  shrank  from  obser¬ 
vation,  and  found  it  exceedingly  dis¬ 
tasteful  to  be  publicly  harangued  and 
eulogised.  He  often  disappointed  public 
assemblies  by  declining  to  relate  his  own 
adventures,  and  telling  instead  the  simple 
story  of  the  Cross. 

While  on  this  tour  through  the  country r 
everywhere  kindling  missionary  enthu¬ 
siasm,  he  met  in  Philadelphia  Miss  Emily 
Chubbuck,  who,  under  the  nom  de  plume 
of  Fanny  Forrester,  had  achieved  a  wide 
literary  reputation.  He  secured  her  to- 
prepare  a  suitable  memoir  of  Mrs.  Sarah 
B.  Judson,  and  the  acquaintance  thus 
formed  terminated  in  marriage  on  the 
2nd  of  the  following  June.  This  lady, 
who  took  the  place  at  his  side  left 
successively  vacant  by  Ann  Hasseltine 
and  Sarah  Boardman,  had,  besides  her 


ADONIRAM  JUDSON. 


13 


intellectual  gifts,  an  intensely  religious 
nature.  She  was  the  child  of  Christian 
parents,  and  was  very  early  the  subject 
of  religious  impressions.  In  subsequent 
life  she  dated  her  conversion  as  occurring 
when  she  was  eight  years  old,  and  she 
seems  to  have  been  haunted  from  her 
earliest  years  by  the  conviction  that  she 
was  some  time  or  other  to  become  a 
missionary  to  the  heathen.  The  mar¬ 
riage  was  pleasing  neither  to  the  literary 
nor  to  the  religious  world.  The  one 
thought  that  the  brilliant  Fanny  Forrester 
was  throwing  herself  away  in  marrying 
“an  old  missionary,”  the  other  feared 
that  the  moral  grandeur  of  the  missionary 
cause  was  compromised  by  an  alliance  be¬ 
tween  its  venerable  founder  and  a  writer 
of  fiction.  But  the  missionary’s  heart 
kept  turning  towards  the  field  of  his 
labours  far  across  the  sea.  On  the  11th 
of  July,  1846,  after  bidding  farewell  to 
his  three  elder  children,  who  were  to 
remain  in  America,  Mr.  Judson  embark¬ 
ed,  with  his  wife  and  several  newly- 
appointed  missionaries,  for  Maulmain  on 
the  Faneuil  Hall ;  and  though  he  well 
knew  that  the  dear  ones  from  whom  he 
was  parting  would  probably  never  be 
seen  again  on  earth,  yet  it  was  with  deep 
joy  that  he  turned  his  face  once  more  to¬ 
wards  Burmah. 

IX. 

LAST  YEARS. 

More  than  four  months  elapsed  after 
Mr.  Judson  parted  from  his  friends  in 
Boston  before  he  arrived  in  Maulmain, 
to  clasp  once  more  in  his  arms  two  of 
the  three  children  whom  he  had  left  be¬ 
hind  eighteen  months  before,  one  having 
died  during  his  absence.  He  still  ar¬ 
dently  cherished  the  purpose  of  entering 
Burmah  proper,  and  his  eye  was  upon 
his  old  field,  Bangoon,  just  within  the 
empire.  The  new  King  was  a  bigoted 
Buddhist,  and  bitterly  opposed  to  the 
propagation  of  the  Christian  religion. 
But  in  Maulmain,  there  were  labourers 
enough  ;  while  in  Rangoon  he  would  be 
favourably  situated  for  completing  the 
Dictionary,  as  he  would  have  access  to 


learned  men,  and  to  books  not  to  be  found 
in  Maulmain.  Moreover,  he  hoped  that 
Burman  intolerance  might  at  last  yield, 
and  he  was  eager  to  press  into  the  interior 
of  the  empire  and  establish  a  mission  in 
Ava,  the  scene  of  his  sufferings. 

Impelled  by  these  motives,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Judson,  with  their  two  little  boys, 
set  out  for  Rangoon  on  the  15th  of 
February,  1847.  Missionary  operations, 
however,  were  obstructed  from  the  out¬ 
set  by  the  intolerance  of  the  Government. 
They  were  no  longer,  as  in  Maulmain, 
under  the  protection  of  the  British  flag, 
but  were  exposed  to  the  barbarities  of  a 
bigoted  and  unlimited  despotism,  and 
the  prospects  of  the  mission  were  never 
darker.  The  Acting  Governor  of  Ran¬ 
goon  is  described  by  Mr.  Judson  as 
being  the  most  ferocious  and  bloodthirsty 
monster  he  had  ever  known  in  Burmah, 
and  his  house  and  courtyard  resounded 
day  and  night  with  the  cries  of  people 
under  torture.  Missionary  operations 
had  to  be  conducted  with  the  utmost 
secrecy.  Any  known  attempt  at  pro¬ 
selyting  would  have  been  instantly 
punished  by  the  imprisonment  or  death 
of  the  proselyte,  and  the  banishment  of 
the  missionary. 

Mr.  Judson  kept  at  work  on  the 
Dictionary,  while  he  gathered  for  secret 
worship  the  few  scattered  members  of 
the  native  church,  and  any  inquirers  who, 
at  the  risk  of  their  lives,  visited  him 
by  night.  The  condition  of  his  house¬ 
hold  was  made  still  more  distressing  by 
sickness,  every  member  of  the  family 
being  prostrated  by  disease ;  and  their 
malady  was  aggravated  by  the  want  of 
nourishing  food.  But  amid  all  these 
sufferings,  Mr.  Judson  never  fell  into 
despondency ;  he  had  long  since  mastered 
the  science  of  contentment.  He  had 
been  instructed  both  “to  bo  full  and  to 
be  hungry,  to  abound  and  to  suffer  need.” 
At  last,  the  intolerance  became  so  fierce, 
that  there  was  no  hope  of  retaining  even 
a  foothold  without  going  to  Ava  to  secure 
the  favour  of  the  royal  Court.  Mr. 
Judson’s  heart  was  set  upon  doing  this. 
He  believed  it  was  the  only  way  by 


14 


ADO NI RAM  JUD80N. 


which  the  Gospel  could  be  established  in 
Burmali  proper;  and  bitter  indeed  was 
his  disappointment  when  the  policy  of 
retrenchment  at  home  not  only  ]3revented 
him  from  pushing  on  to  Ava,  but  com¬ 
pelled  him  to  retreat  from  Rangoon. 

It  was  with  an  almost  broken  heart 
that  this  wise  and  intrepid  leader,  after 
this  last  fruitless  effort  to  break  the 
serried  ranks  of  Burman  intolerance,  re¬ 
turned  to  Maulmain,  in  obedience  to  the 
timid  and  narrow  policy  of  his  brethren 
in  America.  Two  years  afterwards,  only 
a  few  months  before  his  death,  he  re¬ 
ceived  permission  from  the  Board  to  go 
to  Ava.  But  it  was  too  late.  The  oppor¬ 
tunity  for  penetrating  Burmah  proper 
had  passed  away. 

From  the  time  of  his  return  to  Maul- 
main  he  worked  steadily  at  the  Dictionary, 
and  at  the  same  time  took  a  general 
oversight  of  mission  work,  being  in  the 
nature  of  the  case  a  guiding  and  inspir¬ 
ing  force.  He  preached,  and  part  of  the 
time  the  whole  care  of  the  native  church 
devolved  upon  him.  His  reputation  had 
extended  through  the  whole  of  India,  and 
he  was  held  in  the  highest  esteem  even 
by  eminent  Buddhists.  To  his  fellow- 
missionaries,  his  wide  experience  and 
affectionate  disposition  made  him  an  in¬ 
valuable  adviser  and  friend. 

But  dark  shadows  began  to  gather 
around  the  path  of  the  missionaries. 
Mrs.  Judson's  health  began  to  decline, 
and,  while  he  cherished  dark  forebodings 
about  her,  he  little  imagined  he  would 
precede  her  by  several  years  through 
the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death.  In 
November,  1849,  he  was  attacked  by  the 
disease  which,  after  a  period  of  a  little 
over  four  months,  terminated  in  his  death. 
A  trip  down  the  coast  of  Mergui  afforded 
only  partial  relief.  He  tried  the  sea  air 
of  Amherst,  but  only  sank  more  rapidly, 
and  hastened  back  to  Maulmain.  His 
only  hope  lay  in  a  sea  voyage.  The 
ocean  breezes  had  never  failed  to  in¬ 
vigorate  him.  A  French  barque,  the 
Aristide  Marie,  was  to  sail  on  the  3rd 
of  April.  The  dying  missionary  was 
carried  on  board  by  his  weeping  disci¬ 


ples,  accompanied  only  by  Mr.  Ranney, 
of  the  Maulmain  Mission.  There  were 
unfortunate  delays  in  going  down  the 
river,  so  that  several  days  were  lost. 
Meanwhile  that  precious  life  was  ebbing 
rapidly  away.  It  was  not  until  Monday, 
the  8th,  that  the  vessel  got  out  to  sea. 
Then  came  head-winds  and  sultry 
weather,  and  after  four  days  and  nights 
of  intense  agony,  Mr.  Judson  breathed 
his  last,  on  the  12th  of  April;  and  on  the 
same  day,  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening, 
the  crew  assembled,  the  larboard  port 
was  opened,  and  in  perfect  silence,  broken 
only  by  the  voice  of  the  captain,  his 
body  was  lowered  into  the  Indian  Ocean., 
without  a  prayer. 

X. 

POSTHUMOUS  INFLUENCE. 

Mr.  Judson  did  not  live  to  complete 
the  Burman  Dictionary.  He  finished  the 
English  and  Burmese  part,  but  the  Bur¬ 
mese  and  English  part  was  left  in  an 
unfinished  state.  In  accordance  with  his 
desire,  expressed  only  a  few  days  before 
his  death,  Mrs.  Judson  transmitted  his 
manuscripts  to  his  friend  and  missionary 
associate,  Mr.  Stevens,  upon  whom  the 
task  of  completing  the  work  devolved. 

It  now  remains  for  us  to  ask  what  were 
the  results  this  great  life  left  behind  it  in 
the  state  of  human  society.  Mr.  Judson's 
achievements  far  exceeded  the  wildest 
aspirations  of  his  boyhood.  During  the 
early  years  in  Rangoon,  when  the  mighty 
purpose  of  evangelizing  Burmah  began 
to  take  shape  in  his  mind ;  even  before 
the  first  convert,  Moung  Nau,  was  bap¬ 
tized;  when  indeed  the  young  missionary 
was  almost  forgotton  by  his  fellow  Chris¬ 
tians  at  home,  or  merely  pitied  as  a  good- 
hearted  enthusiast — the  outmost  limit 
reached  by  his  strong-winged  hope,  was 
that  he  might  before  he  died  build  up  a 
church  of  a  hundred  converted  Burmans, 
and  translate  the  whole  Bible  into  their 
language.  But  far  more  than  this  was 
accomplished  during  the  ten  years  in 
Rangoon,  the  two  years  in  Ava,  and  the 
twenty-three  years  in  Maulmain. 

At  the  time  of  his  death,  the  native 


ADONIRAM  JUDSON. 


15 


Christians  (Burmans  and  Karens  pub¬ 
licly  baptized  upon  profession  of  tlieir 
faith)  numbered  over  seven  thousand. 
Besides  this,  hundreds  throughout  Bur- 
mah  had  died  rejoicing  in  the  Christian 
faith.  He  had  not  only  finished  the 
translation  of  the  Bible,  but  had  accom¬ 
plished  the  larger  and  more  difficult  part 
of  the  compilation  of  a  Burmese  Diction¬ 
ary.  There  were  sixty-three  churches 
established  among  the  Burmans  and 
Karens.  These  churches  were  under  the 
oversight  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-three 
missionaries,  native  pastors  and  assist¬ 
ants.  He  had  laid  the  foundations  of 
Christianity  deep  down  in  the  Burman 
heart,  where  they  could  never  be  de¬ 
stroyed. 

It  was  Mr.  Judsom’s  lot  to  labour  in 
the  hard  and  obscure  period  of  first  be¬ 
ginnings  of  missionary  enterprise,  which 
has  since  his  day,  in  many  places, 
yielded  large  results.  And  not  only  so, 
but  he  undertook  the  task  of  planting 
Christianity,  not  among  a  people  like 
the  Sandwich  Islanders,  without  a  litera¬ 
ture,  and  without  an  elaborate  religious 
system*,  but  rather  in  a  soil  already  pre¬ 
occupied  by  an  ancient  literature  and  by 
a  time-honoured  religion,  which  numbers 
among  its  devotees  one-third  of  the  popu¬ 
lation  of  the  globe.  When  these  con¬ 
siderations  are  taken  into  account,  the 
tangible  results  that  Mr.  Judson  left 
behind  at  his  death  are  simply  amazing. 

But  these  are  only  a  small  part  of  what 
he  really  accomplished.  Being  dead,  he 
yet  speaketh .  The  early  actions  of  Mr. 
Judson  and  his  fellow-students  at  An¬ 
dover  resulted  in  the  formation  of  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for 
Foreign  Missions.  This  society,  repre¬ 
senting  the  Congregationalists  of  Ameri¬ 
ca,  may  justly  claim  to  be  the  mother  of 
American  foreign  missionary  bodies.  It 
was  organized  for  the  support  of  certain 
young  men  while  they  were  engaged  in 
the  work  to  which  the  Lord  had  called 
them.  In  the  year  1880,  this  society  re¬ 
ceived  and  expended  over  six  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  It  is  conducting  suc¬ 
cessful  missionary  operations  in  Africa, 


Turkey,  India,  China,  Japan,  Micronesia, 
Mexico,  Spain  and  Austria.  In  these 
different  countries  it  has  two  hundred 
and  seventy-two  churches,  over  seventeen 
thousand  church  members,  and  sixteen 
hundred  and  eighty-five  missionaries, 
native  pastors  and  assistants. 

The  change  in  Mr.  Judsoids  views  on 
the  subject  of  baptism,  to  which  we  have 
already  referred,  led  immediately  to  the 
formation  of  what  is  now  known  as 
the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union. 
This  society  is  at  work  in  Burmah,  Siam, 
India,  China,  Japan,  and  also  in  the 
countries  of  Europe  ;  and  it  reports  nine 
hundred  and  eighty  native  churches, 
eighty-five  thousand,  three  hundred  and 
eight  church  members,  and  twelve  hun¬ 
dred  and  fourteen  missionaries  and  native 
preachers. 

A  few  years  after  Mr.  JudsoiBs  de¬ 
parture  from  America,  and  the  organi¬ 
zation  of  these  two  societies,  the  Epis¬ 
copalians  and  Methodists  of  America 
organized  themselves  for  the  work  of 
foreign  missions.  In  1836,  the  Presby¬ 
terians  also  organized  a  society  of  their 
own.  All  these  vigorous  Christian 
bodies  sustained  by  the  missionary  con¬ 
viction  of  the  churches  in  America,  with 
their  vast  army  of  missionaries  and 
native  communicants  now  pressing* 
against  the  systems  of  heathenism  at  a 
thousand  points,  when  they  come  to  tell 
the  story  of  their  origin,  do  not  fail  to' 
make  mention  of  the  name  of  Adoniram 
Judson.  His  life  formed  a  part  of  the 
fountain-head  from  which  flow  these 
beneficent  streams,  which  fringe  with 
verdure  the  wastes  of  paganism.  There 
are  few  of  those  who  have  gone  from 
America  as  missionaries,  who  are  not 
indebted  to  Mr.  J udson  for  methods  and 
inspirations ;  and  not  alone  in  America 
has  his  career  of  heroic  action  and 
suffering  stimulated  Christian  activity, 
but  his  influence  has  been  an  inspiration 
everywhere.  The  memory  of  his  suffer¬ 
ings  at  Ava  will  never  cease  to  stimulate- 
missionary  endeavour.  They  appeared 
at  the  time  unnecessary  and  fruitless. 
He  himself,  upon  emerging  from  them. 


16 


ADONIRAM  JUDSON. 


spoke  of  them  as  having  been  “  unavail¬ 
ing  to  answer  any  valuable  missionary 
purpose,  unless  so  far  as  they  may  have 
been  silently  blessed  to  our  spiritual 
improvement  and  capacity  for  future 
usefulness.”  But  the  spectacle  of  our 
missionary  lying  in  an  Oriental  prison, 
his  ankles  fettered  with  five  pairs  of 
irons,  his  heroic  wife  ministering  to  him 
like  an  angel  during  the,  long  months 
of  agony,  has  impressed  itself  on  the 
heart  of  Christendom,  and  has  made 
retreat  from  the  missionary  enterprise 
impossible.  It  is  God's  law  that  pro¬ 
gress  should  be  along  the  line  of  suffer¬ 
ing.  The  world's  benefactors  “have 
been  from  time  immemorial  crucified  and 
burned.”  The  sufferings  of  Mr.  Judson's 
life  have  been  as  fruitful  of  blessing  as 


his  toils.  Christianity  will  never  retreat 
from  the  graves  of  its  dead  on  heathen 
shores.  England  is  pressing  into  Africa 
with  redoubled  energy  since  she  saw 
placed  on  the  pavement  of  her  own 
Westminster  Abbey  the  marble  tablet 
of  him  who  was  “brought  by  faithful 
hands  over  land  and  sea,  David  Living¬ 
stone,  missionary,  traveller,  philanthro¬ 
pist.”  Until  that  day  shall  come  when 
every  knee  shall  bow,  and  every  tongue 
confess  the  name  of  Jesus,  Christian 
hearts  will  not  cease  to  draw  inspiration 
from  the  memory  of  those  who  found 
their  last  resting-places  under  the  hope- 
tree  at  Amherst,  on  the  rocky  shore  of 
St.  Helena,  and  beneath  the  waves  of  the 
Indian  Ocean. 

Edward  Judson,  D.D. 


fgliis  is  to 


¥ 


PRESS  OF  E.  SCOTT,  463  HUDSON  STREET,  NEW  YORK. 


